May 21st, 2026 – The State of New York Indie Publishing A&R

AIMP NY brings together four of New York’s leading indie publishing A&R executives for a candid conversation about what’s shaping the field — what catches their attention in emerging writers, how they develop and support their rosters, and what they’re seeing across the NYC songwriter community right now. A grounded look at how A&R is evolving in independent publishing and what it means for the creative ecosystem here in New York.

Moderator: 
David Hoffman, Reservoir

Speakers:  
Cabrea Casey, Downtown Music Publishing
Lau Frías, Secretly Group
Carlos Lopez Jr., Domino Records & Publishing
Zack Weinstein, Sunset Songs

Laura “Lau” Frías is an A&R Director at Secretly Group (Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, Saddest Factory Records and Secretly Canadian), bringing her experience championing artists and paving new paths for underrepresented sounds, spaces and music scenes around the world. Having moved from Lima, Perú to Los Angeles in 2012, she’s been a fundamental voice for the Latinx music community (Omar Apollo, Cuco and more). Frías first worked at Kobalt Music Group for six years, where she worked on global initiatives across Synch Licensing, Publishing A&R, and Records A&R at then-sister company AWAL. Lau has a natural gift for world building and creative direction, which landed her a job at Secretly Group. Now in New York and at Secretly, she’s amplifying some of the most exciting new voices in the indie space, including Chanel Beads, Wednesday, Cassandra Jenkins and more.

Cabrea Casey is an established A&R Director based in New York, with over a decade of experience working in Music Publishing. Cabrea has proudly signed publishing deals with Ani DiFranco, Momma, Annie DiRusso, Pom Pom Squad, Nation of Language, and Phony Ppl to name a few. In parallel to her career in Publishing, Cabrea regularly DJ’s around New York City and Brooklyn; as a DJ, she has performed at Soho House, National Sawdust, Baby’s All Right, Nicky’s Unisex, Knitting Factory and more.

Let’s dive into the important collaboration between a music publisher’s Sync and A&R departments and how these teams collaborate for success.

As AI, analytics, and algorithms become increasingly integrated into the music industry, we’re all learning to navigate a rapidly evolving landscape. We’ll explore how data-driven tools are influencing how writers are discovered, signed, developed, and pitched, without losing sight of the instinct and human connection that have always been core to music publishing. We’ll also look at how AI is being used to organize and enhance catalogs, from smarter metadata tagging to more strategic pitching for sync and beyond. Join our panel of independent publishers, A&R executives, and music tech experts on how they’re using these tools responsibly, what’s actually working, and how we can strike the right balance between metrics and gut instinct in shaping the future of indie music publishing.

Moderated by MARC CARUSO, CEO/CO-FOUNDER ANGRY MOB MUSIC.

Panelists:

CHRIS MARTIGNAGO, VP OF A&R PRESCRIPTION SONGS

Chris Martignago, based in Nashville, TN, is Vice President of A&R at Prescription Songs recognized for his achievements developing creative talent.

With over 14 years of experience in A&R, Martignago began his career in 2012 by helping to establish the A&R Research department at Atlantic Records prior to joining Prescription Songs in 2021.

Martignago has worked on a diverse group of gold and platinum-certified chart-topping songs over the course of his career with artists that include Paramore, Marshmello, Saweetie, A Day to Remember, Stephen Sanchez, Devin Dawson, Wilder Woods, Anna Clendening, Ingrid Michaelson, Galxara, Matoma, Shinedown, and Rainbow Kitten Surprise. Martignago has built an impressive roster at Prescription Songs including Grammy-nominated and award-winning creatives such as Anderson East, Trent Dabbs, JT Daly, Nick Lobel, Tony Esterly, Brett Truitt, Josie Dunne, Dominique Sanders, Derik Fein, Heather Russell and Vancouver Sleep Clinic.

Martignago regularly volunteers with local schools and art programs. He is also the founder of HELL YES!—an online community that showcases emerging songwriters, hosts annual songwriting camps and events, including PLAYBACK, a partnership with PøpSquad founder, Wes Davenport. Through this platform, Martignago has provided invaluable resources and opportunities for independent songwriters, producers, and artists to forge real-world connections. His mission is to advocate for creatives, bridging the gap between local artistry and a global music industry.

Currently, Martignago is using his unique blend of analytical and creative experience to grow the presence of Prescription Songs in Nashville through innovative signings and timeless songs.

VICKIE NAUMAN, FOUNDER/CEO CROSSBORDERWORKS

Vickie Nauman specializes in the intersection between technology and music, focused on music licensing, creating new business models, products, relationships and rights; helping grow companies; and global strategic development.  She is Founder and CEO of the Los Angeles-based boutique consulting and advisory firm CrossBorderWorks and has an ambitious portfolio of forward-thinking companies in gaming, tech, consumer electronics, M&A and music since 2014.  

A digital music pioneer and tech enthusiast, Nauman worked on product for one of the first legal digital services MusicNet (RealNetworks JV), led strategic partnerships for connected device company Sonos, started and ran the US business for global music platform 7digital, and did early digital music business in China as a consultant. She built one of the first DMCA-compliant services at taste-making Seattle station KEXP and has an MBA through the London School of Economics, NYU-Stern, and HEC-Paris, in the executive program TRIUM.  She is an advisor and subject matter expert to some of the world’s most innovative companies, including those in gaming, M&A, platforms, apps, rights-related, strategic growth, and early-stage startups in music/tech. Client base includes Beat Saber/Meta, Riot Games, Harman Kardon, Musical AI, Downtown Holdings, various Roblox projects and more listed on LinkedIn.


GRAYSON SANDERS, CO-FOUNDERS/CEO CHORDAL

Grayson is the Co-Founder & CEO of Chordal. Chordal is a fast growing music licensing platform focused on elevating artist and songwriter opportunities in visual content via a revolutionary, collaborative rights management technology. Grayson began his career in classical music as symphonic composer in residence for NYU Symphony while working on commissions for New York area contemporary chamber ensembles. He soon turned his focus to experimental multimedia, co-founding art collective Aytia Matia which hosted warehouse scale events in Brooklyn fusing music, art, and technology in the early 2010’s. In 2015, he co-founded the Emmy winning music agency Safari Riot, which has since facilitated 8+ figures of sync licensing deals for artists in its 9 year history. In 2019, Chordal was born as a collaboration between several leading music companies & music supervision firms, with a focus on streamlining the complex and disjointed processes currently limiting the music industry’s ability to fully access sync licensing revenue streams. Chordal now serves hundreds of rights holders from majors to leading independents.

Join us for this webinar hosted by the Nashville Chapter to hear some of Nashville’s publishers discuss the role of music publishers in artist development.
Speakers:
• Robert Carlton, Senior VP Development, Smacksongs
• Zebb Luster – Originally from Fort Myers, Florida, Luster moved to Nashville in 2015 and started the lifestyle and apparel brand YNOT, morphing into the largely successful songwriters round YNOT Wednesday. Luster joined River House Artists as a publishing manager in 2017 before being promoted to creative director/A&R in 2019. Luster has helped grow the RHA roster by helping sign songwriters like Nicolette Hayford, Driver Williams, Drew Parker, Jordan Rowe, Neil Medley and more.
• Chris Van Belkom is the Vice President of Combustion Music and oversees the writer roster of Jameson Rodgers, Brett Tyler, Matt Jenkins, Matthew West, AJ Pruis and Kolby Cooper, among others.
Moderator:
• Tim Hunze, VP, Publishing at Big Machine Music